The selection of the jury in the Criminal Criminal trial and promoter of Tornado Cash and Roman Storm developer ended on Tuesday, and the prosecutors and defense lawyers published their own statements in a case that could have important repercussions for cryptographic and blockchain industry.
According to reports from Inner City Press within the American district district court in New York District on Tuesday, American prosecutors concentrated a large part of their declaration of opening on the Storm liaison attempt with North Korean hackers using tornado money to launder the funds, in violation of American sanctions. The Lazare group would have been the cause of a piracy in 2022 of the Ronin Bridge, which suppressed around $ 600 million in crypto.
“The accused took advantage of a giant washing machine for dirty money,” said American prosecutor Kevin Mosley, adding: “Mr. Storm had choices. Once he learned that he was washing money for criminals, he still chose to commit crimes. He continued.”
The criminal trial has drawn the attention of important figures from the cryptography and blockchain industry, probably concerned by the impact that any judgment would have on developers who seek to code and create new products. While Storm appeared before the American Federal Court, his accused colleague, Roman Semenov, was still at the time of publication.
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Defense lawyers faced two objections in their openings
The Storm legal team would have argued in its opening statements that Tornado Cash was “a confidentiality protocol available freely for everyone” and that the developer should not be held criminally responsible for others who use it to whiten illicit funds. American prosecutors opposed twice during the declaration of opening in response to hypothetical references to the physical security of users.
“Roman had nothing to do with the hacks,” said Storm lawyer Keri Axel, according to Inner City Press. “The case of government is entirely based on what novel should have done something about these swimming pools. But it couldn’t.”
Axel added:
“The world is full of products that have legitimate and poorly used uses. Signal, or even a hammer that can be used to penetrate and steal things. The government cannot show criminal agreement for criminal purposes. ”
The trial was underway at the time of publication, the government calling its first witnesses. According to Storm, the procedure could last about a month.
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